Jan cautiously looked across the opposite tree line. He scanned the clearing with his night vision, his rifle ready in case anything might attack. After thoroughly checking the clearing over, the ODSTs emerged from the rows of trees silently, weapons drawn. Dakre leaned the pilot against a tree, where he was out of sight from any passersby. The soldiers surveyed the clearing, looking for any geographical flaws that would prevent an emergency landing. After ensuring there were no outstanding flaws in the area, Jackie activated her emergency beacon. She buried it under a thin layer of dirt to conceal it from sight in the middle of the clearing. The ODSTs immediately sped of to three trees on the edges of the clearing. They climbed into the thick vegetation and waited for the pelican to pick them up. Jan was able to hoist the pilot into his tree before climbing up himself.
"Be on the lookout for any movement. When the pelican is in sight, we collapse on the LZ. If anything comes to see the pelican, keep them back with stun rounds. You should each have one magazine." Dakre said to them as he charged his weapon. "If any threats do appear, switch to standard ammunition. Don't kill unless it is absolutely necessary. Got it?" Dakre's voice was muffled sloghtly by heavy static from the damage to his helmet.
"Yes sir." came the two swift replies.
"Then keep your eyes peeled and wait for evac." He said as he turned on the thermal optics on his rifle.
Princess Celestia arrived at the site of the explosion in a blinding flash of intense wight light. When her vision cleared up, she examined the object with curiosity. Now it was just a twisted heap of burning steel. The trees surrounding the object were riddled with shreds of steel and wood. There were multiple fires burning trees close to the wreck. She turned around and was completely speechless at what she saw. Three unconscious ponies laying on the ground, one of them bleeding badly. She immediately recognized her star pupil, lying on the ground, bleeding from multiple puncture wounds to her upper abdomen. The other two she knew as the Apples, Applejack and Big Macintosh. These two seemed to have more mild injuries, the only outstanding injuries being the wood imbedded in AJ's foreleg, and swelling on Big Mac's side. She immediately lifted them up and teleported them from the area to the hospital wing of Canterlot Castle.
The ODSTs were startled when a bright white flash emanated from their pelican crash.
"What the hell was that?" Dakre asked.
"I don't know sir!" Jan replied, making himself smaller in the tree.
"I think it was a flashbang!" Jackie said.
"No way, we would've heard it by now!" Jan said.
"Calm down guys, it doesn't matter now. We're far enough away that we don't need to worry, yet." Dakre said.
"Alright, but I don't have a good feeling about this." Jackie said.
Celestia landed abruptly above a bed in the castle's medical ward. She was barely able to hold up the three ponies she was still levitating. As soon as they heard the crash, the doctors rushed in to see what all of the commotion was about. When they entered, they were met by a panting princess holding three ponies, one with a shredded abdomen.
"*pant* Help them. *pant*" she ordered. The doctors immediately called for nurses, who rolled in gurneys to put the patients
on. The princess placed them on the gurneys, before they were hurriedly wheeled off to the operating room.
About twenty minutes later, Princess Celestia was inside captain Shining armor's office.
"Princess!" Shining Armor exclaimed as the door shut behind her. He shot her a sharp salute.
"At ease captain." she said. "I need you to take a detachment of royal guards to Ponyville to investigate an explosion that
injured three ponies, including Twilight."
"Is Twiley alright?" Shining Armor asked.
"Yes, she is in the hospital recovering as we speak." the princess said.
"Alright princess. when should we go?" He asked.
"As soon as possible." she stated authoritatively.
"Yes ma'am." he said, shooting her another salute before marching off to the barracks to get a platoon of guards to take to Ponyville.
The platoon of guards had been teleported to the crash by Princess Celestia, due to the urgency she insisted be placed on the investigation. The guards were inspecting every inch of the crash site, looking for clues to how this could have happened. After about five minutes, a gourd privet shouted, "I found some tracks!"
Almost immediately Shining Armor and the lieutenant were upon the tracks.
"These are unfamiliar to me, I've never seen anything like them." the lieutenant said as he examined the prints in the earth.
"Send a team to follow them, see if they go anywhere." Shining Armor said. Three unicorns were sent to investigate the tracks.
About fifteen minutes later, a note from princess Celestia was magically delivered to Shining Armor.
Shining Armor,
I searched your sister's memories with a mind reading spell, and this is what the object looked like before it was destroyed.
*There was a small picture of the pelican sketched onto the paper.*
Princess Celestia
Shining armor proceeded to show the sketch to the lieutenant.
"There is no way that was an accident, that was triggered!" he yelled, "Look at it, it couldn't have just exploded!"
"If it was triggered, do you think the ponies who triggered it intentionally triggered it when the victims were near it?" Shining Armor asked.
"I don't care! If somepony triggered this, it is a crime! They almost killed three ponies!" the lieutenant was screaming in rage now.
"Why are you getting so worked up about it!? We have to figure out what happened first." Shining Armor said, trying not to lose it on his lieutenant.
"What is that!?" a guard private yelled as he pointed his hoof at a strange flying object descend over the farm, about a mile away. It was easily a hundred times bigger than the average pegasus, and made a lot more noise than one.
"That's one of the things that caused this!" the lieutenant yelled.
Shining Armor looked at the picture of the flying object. They were almost identical, except the left side of the aircraft was whole.
The lieutenant focused his magic into a beam, hoping to bring it down before it could destroy more property and injure more ponies in his crazed disillusion. Shining Armor realized what his subordinate was doing to late. He tried to tackle him, but he was too late. The beam connected with the object, and it went spiraling into the ground with a loud crash.
"Alright! Evac's here! Everybody hold the LZ!" Dakre shouted as he jumped down from his tree, followed by Jackie, and then Jan carrying the pilot, who had began to bleed again. The ODSTs crouched around the LZ and readied their weapons, stun rounds loaded. The pelican approached the ground as the rear door opened. There were seven marines with MA-5B assault rifles scanning the ground. Then, a bright blue beam shot through the sky and struck the pelican's right engine, causing it to explode. The aircraft spiraled out of control before slamming into the ground at the edge of the tree line.
"Twice!? Twice in one fucking day!?" Dakre screamed as he got up and sprinted toward the wreck with Jackie. Jan helped up the marines, since they fell out when the aircraft was struck.
This wreck wasn't near as bad as the first one, considering the pelican's close proximity to the ground. Dakre and Jackie had no problem getting into the downed aircraft, and walked up to the cockpit. The pilot was alright, just slightly dazed.